


The Feeling of Being Haunted

by stingingscorpion



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Black Badge makes a comeback, But here she is, F/F, I wrote her, M/M, One Shot, continues after the events of season three, i'm not really sure what this is, mystery killer, season four theory, technically, wandering the forest alone, we gettin spooky folks, with a sword you don't know how to use, you know the ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-31 02:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21048098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingingscorpion/pseuds/stingingscorpion
Summary: Something is chasing Wynonna Earp. Has been, for months. As old enemies begin to force their way into the Garden of Eden, she has no choice but to step up. Preferably before her sister ends up in the hands of the morally corrupt organization known as Black Badge.





	The Feeling of Being Haunted

When she woke, she found a miserable place and a miserable feeling. Someone, sitting on her right. Someone she paid no attention, because seeing them through blurry, unfocused eyes was not a possible task at the moment.

She woke slowly, then all that once. The person slowly coming into focus. Was it—

“Good morning.”

No, it wasn’t. it was someone else. Someone far worse. Someone she’d lost a long time ago.

“There was something strange in your system.” He approached her where she lay, a set of hospital things she could never bear to look at comfortably, stuck in all sorts of places. The monitor for her heartbeat sped up. “We just wanted to check you were okay.”

He did not wait for her response, because it surely would’ve been one of hate. He wasn’t here for conversation, anyhow. This she knew. She was not surprised, when he injected something new into her veins. Something that made her lash out in unimaginable pain.

“Something to make you cooperate,” he whispered. 

Her eyes fell to her right again. The figure from earlier, still present. Was she here all along, or was she a vision?

“Wave . . . rly . . .”

-

It was winter again. 

Something was chasing Wynonna Earp. Something vile. Something evil, wanted her dead. But then again, she was Wynonna Earp. Just a regular Tuesday, right?

She needed to separate herself from the situation. Anyone and everyone who stood by her side was going to become engulfed in the same flame setting her on fire. She would be _ damned _ if she let that happen. 

She isolated herself in the forest. The one person she had in her life right now—the only one who didn’t get taken or so stupidly decide to walk into a likely very hellish Garden—wasn’t someone she planned on losing. Or the random stranger who decided to carve her own name into Wynonna’s stairs. Expensive—that was a very expensive fix!

The entrance to the mythical-but-also-real Garden of Eden was within walking distance. But it really wasn’t where she wanted to be right now. It’s where her sister was taken, and, only _ slightly _ worse, it was where Black Badge decided to show up and reveal to the world they were still alive. Watching from the shadows, all this time. Watching what happened with Mictian. Watching what happened with Bulshar and his wives. Entering now, because this was the friggin’ Garden of Eden and something simply impossible to miss out on.

A twig snapped. Wynonna jerked around. Sword she barely knew how to use, in hand. Doc’s stupid guns, on her waist. Waverly’s shotgun strung on her shoulder.

“Come on out, asshole. I know you’re there! Stop hiding!”

Silence. Just an annoying bird she was debating whether or not to shoot for the sake of peace and quiet.

She lowered the sword. Her pursuer wasn’t here.

The same asshole who’d been chasing her up and down for months now. Sent by Black Badge, no doubt. Can’t steal the Earp in the Garden with another one running around trying to do the same. Then there was the sword, too. The key right to the front door. A lot easier than the prying they’d been doing. Technology she and Valdez failed to stop the production of. Hence today, running around in the stupid trees in the stupid cold. 

Wynonna channeled her inner Dolls. She needed to find this killer. They had the nearly same hair color. Killer’s was a little darker. Maybe she could steal their uniform and sneak right past BBD forces. Two double agents on the team—her and Valdez. Valdez, currently busy trying to sneak out the missing members of Team Earp. Apparently not a soul from Black Badge could actually see the Garden. Maybe Wynonna could help. They were her team first, after all.

She yelled for the predator to hunt her. Silence kept on.

“Asshole.”

They were using her friends to lead them to the Garden. They were using her friends to break in and steal Waverly, Doc, and whatever secrets waited inside. Wynonna wasn’t letting her sister become a BBD experiment. She wouldn’t let their science kill her, the way it killed Dolls. She was taking her sister home. Back to the homestead, where she belonged, and she was dragging the rest of her friends with her. 

One by one, everyone else returned to Purgatory, with no memory of what happened while they were missing. Every single person, likely inspected by Black Badge, returned home. Every single person, except for the people she longed for most.

They kept Jeremy, Robin, and Nicole. All three of them were close to the Earps. Close to the events of the Garden. Could actually see the stairs. It was only by some miracle they managed to miss Nedley. Wynonna, too. Or maybe they knew Wynonna couldn’t enter the damned Garden. She wasn’t “worthy”.

But then again, neither were half of the assholes who worked for BBD. It’s why they were prying the place open. If she could hide among their ranks . . .

“I’m seeing my sister today. You’re not stopping me, you freak.”

Another stick broke in the snow behind her. Wynonna pivoted to shoot with Doc’s pistols.

There was nothing.

“Stop playing games with m—”

She was too late to turn fully again; her attacker tackled her to the ground. Wynonna struggled miserably as they tried to pry the sword from her hand.

They weren’t winning, so they forced it against her throat, instead.

“Hey,” she strained, “you can’t kill me with my own sword! Get your own!”

Stupid, _ stupid _ thing to say—the masked figure unsheathed a knife from a holster on their leg. Raising it to attempt to _ force _ Wynonna to let go of the new Peacemaker. Fast. She needed to think fast!

Wynonna inspected the gloves on this mystery soldier’s hands. Regular ol’ winter gloves. It was perfect. It was thin enough for her to literally sink her teeth into, deeper and deeper until she tasted the stranger’s blood and the stranger struggled to ignore it. Schoolyard rules!

Mystery Soldier was distracted by the pain long enough for Wynonna to completely push them over and unleash a few bullets of Doc’s pistol. Missed the two shots she made. The third was a wasted shot. The soldier had dropped a flash grenade and disappeared from the scene like a coward, effectively blinding Wynonna for several minutes. 

When she recovered well enough, Wynonna chased. That asshole was keeping her from her friends. Keeping her from her _ family. _She was getting them, right now. They were ending this chase, right now.

It was the same thing, at every turn. She and Nedley go after a lead Valdez would otherwise blow her cover chasing—the mystery asshole was there. Ready to murder them every single time. Showed up at the homestead once, too. And the cop shop. Did more damage to the homestead, though, particularly Waverly’s room. Like they actively hated the interior design or something. Not everyone could make big mystery soldier money and decorate with gold bars. _ Asshole. _

She applied every skill ever learned from Dolls. A few street tricks, too. Anything that would help her track down this person who was so hellbent on ruining her life. She lost her sister and all her friends. She had no direction in life anymore. She was basically back to square one. Wasn’t that enough?

Another sound brought Wynonna screeching to a halt. Rustling, in a group of bushes. Too mad right now to make a joke.

“It’s not like me to go peeking in another woman’s bush . . .”

Maybe one joke.

The figure inside revealed itself to her drawn gun.

It was a rabbit.

“You adorable little idiot, I almost took your little head off!”

If Wynonna hadn’t reached down to pet the creature, the bullet from the shooter behind her was guaranteed to split her head right open. Without missing a beat, Wynonna repositioned her steady aim right for the soldier’s shoulder. Their fancy BBD armor ate most of it, but she knew they felt it.

They charged for her, sliding at the last second and tripping her, throwing Wynonna flat on her back. Snow seeping into her jacket. Sneaking into her boot, too.

“Wait, time out, my socks are gonna get wet!”

The figure had absolutely no sympathy, or no manners, in regards to the awful experience that was a wet sock. They pulled their knife as Wynonna ignored the ease of using a gun and swung with her sword. Soldier’s gun was away. Like they planned to humor her one last fight before finally killing her.

Mystery Soldier kept up like the mystery soldier they were, absolutely overwhelming Wynonna’s amateur experience with a flaming sword neither she nor Dolls would’ve guessed she was to use. She could shoot well. She could handle herself in a fight. But she never used a full length sword before. Knives, sure, but a sword? Not in the twenty-first century!

It was the same as a knife, right? Swing the pointy end until it hit something? Yeah, she could—

No, she could not.

The soldier was quick. And so rudely toying with her. They had every chance to kill her, but always seemed to hold back.

Was there a chance they didn’t want to?

Wynonna's left side was wide open. The soldier punched it, but didn’t bring the knife anywhere near. They were fast enough to slash her all over, but didn’t.

This raven-haired asshole _ was _ toying with her. But why?

She noticed the eyes, too. Darting left and right, sometimes not even watching Wynonna. Did they have backup? Were they waiting for something?

Was this even a real fight, or were they stalling for something else?

She’d never find out. Somebody shot the figure right in the leg, grazing past just enough for them to get freaked out and retreat again. Again, with the flash grenade.

Either a few minutes for a cruel hour passed before Wynonna could actually see again. The first thing she saw was Randy Nedley, who was supposed to be ditched and long lost amongst the trees. So much for that plan.

“We’ve done this game a thousand times, Wynonna,” he said. “I know all your tricks.”

He reached out to help Wynonna up, but she was too stubborn to accept. “Not my sword tricks,” she mumbled.

“_ You _ don’t even know your sword tricks.”

“Okay. Judgey. What’s going on?”

They talked and tracked. Soldier was still out there. Would be dumb to leave a threat out there in the hopes they’d just bleed out and die quietly.

It was a minute before Nedley answered, “Valdez is keeping them busy. As much as she can; there’s only so much a double agent can do before she gets caught.”

“Did they make it in?”

“No, but they’re trying. BBD has gone all in with their tech, she said. They’re trying to counteract the Garden’s natural security, and slowly but surely, they’re getting there.”

“And we’re just letting them do that?”

“We have to. At least, for now.”

Wynonna huffed. “Then we hijack their plans, is that it? We can’t take them all out by ourselves.”

“Valdez is working on that.”

“You’re putting a lot of faith into her.”

Nedley smiled. “She’s ‘bae’, as the kids say.”

Wynonna stopped. “Oh, dear god. That is not the proper use of that at _ all _.”

-

The woman was always with her. Like a ghost. Like a _ curse. _

Like an angel.

The ghost was hers, and hers only. No one else could see her, and no one else could speak with her. All hers. All the time. In a dark, horrendous place like this, it was a relief.

“I need you to focus on me.”

_ Him _ again. Briefing her for one of the many tasks he always had for her to do. She wasn’t sure why she needed to do them. Or why she was chosen to do them. Her mind was so foggy, she wasn’t sure of much anymore. 

He spoke of Wynonna Earp. Do not capture. Only kill. Take the weapon from her hands, a sword, and bring it back. It was important. It was a necessity.

The mere mention of Wynonna Earp always stirred the ghost, whispering more and more madness into her ears.

“I know you’re in there! Please, you have to wake up!”

She shook her head and asked the ghost to stop.

“Come on!”

She asked again, for the ghost to _ please _ stop.

“You can’t let him to do this to you! Run away, fight back—just get out! Save yourself! You don’t have to go through with this!”

The man always used his tricks to bring her back. Out of the ghost’s control. Back into his.

For her first mission, he slipped a mask onto her face. Completely made of steel material. He told her, “It’s for your own protection. Wynonna Earp is a dirty fighter.”

Something—not the ghost, but _ something _ deep inside—always told her that wasn’t true. The mask was for something else. For when she argued with the ghost, perhaps? It was too revealing? Would Wynonna Earp understand that?

Could Wynonna Earp help?

She never played with that idea. She only followed orders.

-

Deeper into the woods, the soldier’s mask was removed, if only for a moment, as they tended to their leg wound. Wynonna barely had time to make a note to target it before the soldier slapped the mask back on and began round three. This time defending against both Wynonna and Nedley.

The first thing they did was disarm Nedley, smack him with his own shotgun, and toss the weapon a ways into the trees. They depended on his slow recovery time, immediately going after Wynonna. More directly, for the sword. No games this go.

But the eyes were the same. Crazy, wild. Darting all around.

Wynonna got lost in them long enough for the soldier to grab sword Peacemaker. She grabbed the handle. They fell into a high stakes tug-of-war, despite the soldier’s weird grip on the blade. All the way until Nedley managed to grab Waverly’s old shotgun from where it fell off Wynonna’s shoulder and used it to bash the soldier’s injured leg. They fell like a glass house.

Cornered and defeated, two guns and a sword pacifying them.

Nedley made to handcuff them as Wynonna asked, “Any last words, butthole?”

They glared hatefully.

Before they left, the soldier safely acquainted with a former Murder Tree, Wynonna faced them once more. The mask. She had to know who was behind the black, steel face mask hunting her for months now. The feeling just suddenly overcame her.

It dropped from her hands. As did her sword.

“Nicole?”

-

No part of this asshole who dyed Nicole’s hair midnight black was Nicole. Same face. Same _ God-I-hate-you-Wynonna _ stare. Not the same eyes. There was something empty behind those eyes. Something made in a Black Badge lab.

And then there was the muttering. The crazy eyes. Constantly looking over her shoulder and telling someone who wasn’t there to stop speaking. To go away.

Wynonna decided, “I don’t like drug addict Nicole.”

Tugging her along, as she hissed and cursed at things that weren’t there. Wasn’t Wynonna supposed to be the one who belonged in a mental asylum?

There was only more bad news ahead. Valdez was supposed to have rescued Jeremy and Robin and sent them to a camp not too far from the stairs. The plan was to regroup here—regrouping an improvised point after Wynonna snuck off to defeat Winter Soldier Nicole—and charge the stairs, together. There were extra guns and armor waiting here for Jeremy and Robin’s use. Nicole’s, too, but now that need was blown out of the water. She _ was _ the prepared one, in any and every situation.

Nedley was the one muttering curses now; what the hell were they supposed to do next? Black Badge used their teammates for all the purpose they had. Now they weren’t protected. They were something to weaponize against Wynonna.

For the moment, Wynonna couldn’t think. “Stop staring at me, Bucky.”

This is certainly not how she imagined reuniting with Nicole Haught. They were supposed to be on thin ice. Nicole was supposed to be mad at her for the spiked drink incident. They were supposed to talk it through, maybe get a few good smacks in, and move on. Find Waverly, together. Get through the fact she was missing, together. Now . . .

“What did they do to you, Nicole?”

Nicole’s stare held. “I’m supposed to take the sword from you.”

“Doesn’t Black Badge have fancy tech to get in there?”

“I _ need _ to take the sword from you.”

“Why, Nicole?”

“To make the voice stop.”

Wynonna let her guard drop, despite all the warning signals to do just the opposite. “What voice?”

Nicole leaned in. “The _ voice.” _

“I don’t underst—”

Nedley approached them, his cell phone and its bright screen in his hand. “New plan. We’re meeting at the stairs. She’ll make a distraction.”

“I’m sorry,” Wynonna said, “did Valdez _ text _you that?”

Nedley didn’t seem bothered by the fact. “It’s on a secure line.”

-

A sneak attack was the ideal plan. Before it was ruined.

The mumbling was already worrying Wynonna. The ghost Nicole was seeing or hearing and generally annoying everybody with was something to watch to begin with. What she wasn’t expecting was for dear ol’ brainwashed Nicole to call Jeremy and Robin—no, _ yell to BBD forces _ that Jeremy and Robin were traitors. They were _ so _ close to escaping without any intervention from Wynonna or Nedley. Or a grand show from Valdez.

Crouched behind a ginormous felled tree trunk, avoiding gunfire and general evil bad guys with guns, watching Jeremy and Robin just barely manage to escape gunfire, Wynonna was _ annoyed. _

So annoyed, she grabbed Nicole harshly by the shoulders and threatened, “I swear to god, you brainwashed Big Bird, if you cost me Waverly I will scramble your brains way worse than they are now!”

So annoyed, she didn’t notice the mumbling stopped, after one word was breathed from Nicole.

“Waverly?”

Nicole stood, and slipped out of her handcuffs like her hands were buttered. Stealing Waverly’s shotgun from Wynonna’s shoulder and taking down more BBD foes than everyone combined.

It was the perfect addition. Nicole’s sudden, heated contribution, combined with Valdez’s thousand plus years of experience, Randy Nedley’s decades, and Wynonna’s natural affinity for gunslinging plowed through BBD no problem.

Valdez managed to save Jeremy and Robin in the process, during the exact type of shootout they were trying to avoid. She didn’t stick around to talk, but ran off to prevent the next wave of foes from reaching the entrance to the Garden.

The entrance, which was still shut; the technology did not manage to penetrate it.

But somewhere along the excitement, Nicole was dropping the gun in her hand and backing away.

“I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

Nedley was quicker than Wynonna, to try and steady the person he knew as his daughter. Or, perhaps, _ once _ knew _ . _

Shaking and unsteady, Nicole was not willing to accept help from Nedley. She pushed his hands away as she backed and backed, all the way until she bumped into a tree. Telling whatever it was she saw to stop talking. To go away, because they were wrong.

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

There was a silent confusion as she went on. Wynonna and Nedley unsure what to do. Jeremy, asking Robin to help him search dead soldiers for something apparently only known between them.

“I can’t,” she told her ghost again. “I’m not allowed to! He’ll know!”

She screamed she didn’t know “them”, as Jeremy and Robin returned with a simple flashlight.

“I can fix this,” Jeremy said, “but it won’t be easy.”

Wynonna Earp looked _ terrified _ for Nicole Haught. “I don’t care, as long as it works!”

Nicole knew what the apparent black magic of the flashlight meant. Wynonna had to full on tackle her to keep her from running, and further keep her pinned to the ground to allow Jeremy to do whatever weird light therapy he was about to do.

All the while, Wynonna compared this to something she might do to help her sister. Because Nicole Haught was her _ sister. _Her family. Nobody leaves her family to go crazy. Not ever again, anyway.

The flashes were in deliberate sets. Six, stop. One, stop. Two, stop. Six, one, two. Was it a date? The number 612?

Wynonna let her go unconscious for a good three minutes before smacking her awake again. They were on a time rush, after all. And maybe she was completely terrified at the whole endeavor.

In true, predictable Nicole nature, the first word from her lips was Waverly’s name. Wynonna made the decision to let her down.

“Not quite. Wrong Earp, Haught.”

Immediately, she sat up. “Wynonna? Where’s the sword? Where’s Peacemaker? Did they—”

“Nope. Got the ol’ bastard right here. Nobody’s getting in there but us.”

The relief brought more things to Nicole’s attention, as she felt around her face. For the mask. She seemed to piece together the damn thing was long gone, from the expression on Wynonna’s face.

“We’re even? For me drugging you?” Wynonna looked around, to Jeremy and Robin, as well. “We’re all even? For the very heroic _ rescues _, plural?”

Things ended in a group hug. Needless to say, all was forgiven.

They were just happy to be together again. 

-

After Nedley’s fatherly worries faded out, after fully inspecting Nicole a good six or seven times, the team moved forward.

Eagerly, because the Garden of Eden was open once again. Not by Black Badge’s technology, but by the hands of Wynonna Earp and by the liberty of Peacemaker. 

There were two final items needed before they headed inside. First: tracking devices. In case they needed to find each other for any reason. Second: a carefully curated piece of equipment to allow everyone and anyone to actually enter. They didn’t come this far for the Garden to deny them entry. Wynonna did not come this far to be denied entry. Hopefully _ this _ tech actually worked. 

“One of Black Badge’s biggest goals,” Nicole explained to Wynonna and Nedley, as they waited, “is to retrieve the angels rumored to be in the Garden. Including, and especially, Waverly.”

“Funny,” Wynonna crossed her arms, “I thought ol’ Moody was more interested in demons.”

“Not Moody,” Nicole shook her head. “New management.”

“Who? Lucado’s ghost?”

“Bunny Loblaw?” Nedley asked. It was not met famously. “It’s something she would do. Looking for angels in a biblical setting—that’s something she would do.”

Wynonna seemed to gain some hope. “Is it Quinn? Dolls’s buddy?”

Again, Nicole shook her head. “Quinn is dead. The new person in charge—” she paused, to exhale— “is my dad. My mom’s high in the ranks, too.”

Nedley was not convinced. “I thought your parents were anti-government hippies?”

“Only because they work for BBD, a fake government organization. That’s what all the traveling was about. They never talked about the massacre because they were the ones helping cover it up. They didn’t want me to be a cop because they didn’t want me working in government at all. They wanted me to do ‘better’.”

“And now?” Nedley asked.

“Now they’re in charge with power and everything they’ve ever wanted. I happened to be close to the one obstacle in their way, so they used me.”

A strong hand grasped her shoulder. “I’m sorry, kid.”

Across the way, Wynonna felt the guiltiest. “I shouldn’t have spiked your drink. Any of your drinks. I did it to protect you guys, and instead it made everyth—”

Nicole was shaking her head again. “We get her back first. Then we talk.”

“Can we talk about you breaking out of handcuffs so fast, first?”

Nicole seemed to smile at that thought. “Special training from Nedley. He calls it the ‘Wynonna Earp Protocol’.”

Wynonna’s shoulders dropped. “Of course.”

The five of them stood before the Garden doors, as they opened and revealed a land of myth. All five, going separate ways. All five, approaching the same problem their own ways. Save Waverly. Save Doc. That was the goal. They were not leaving until it was completed.

Only one of them left.

-

The bright light was always present, but never like this. Never in a constant flash. Six. One. Two. Six and twelve. June 12, the last day Nicole and her parents ever spoke. She was going to pursue a life they could not agree with. A life they pursued, themselves, in a government position torturing them with a miserable lifestyle they just couldn’t seem to escape. A miserable lifestyle they couldn’t bear to watch their daughter live, too.

Six. One. Two.

No matter how far she fell from their control, she was brought back. Her own father, using movie-style brainwashing techniques to keep his daughter and his connections close to his chest.

Six. One. Two.

It was not a ghost. It was an angel. It was _ her _ angel, _ her _ guardian angel, trying to save her. Trying to get her out of a terrible, miserable lifestyle.

Six. One. Two.

Waverly Earp. The Garden allowed Waverly Earp to watch over the one closest to her soul. Watch and advise. Nothing else. She could do nothing else. It was only by a miracle Nicole could see and hear her, watching, advising.

But, no matter how close she was to bringing Nicole back, there was the light. Six. One. Two.

And now, exiting the Garden, the brightest lights she’d ever seen poisoning her eyesight, Nicole was the closest she’d ever been to Waverly. Seeing her. _ Feeling _ her. But not hearing. Not hearing a single peep, because Waverly had no peeps to give. Not as stone, and not now, as flesh again. 

Now, exiting the bright light, Nicole found her father and all his goons. Her mother, standing in the background. Now, free of his restraint, she willingly kneeled before him.

Her guardian angel was suffering. It was _ her _ turn now, to be the guardian, as she held Waverly’s weak and near lifeless body.

“Dad,” she begged, “_ please _, save her.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was the result of watching Winter Soldier and playing too much Bioshock. Shady science. Shady science everywhere. (And also being slightly impatient for season four.)
> 
> Thank you for reading, I very much appreciate it. As always, I can be found on [Tumblr](https://stinging-scorpion.tumblr.com/) and sometimes on [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/RJAwritesathing) Sometimes. AKA I suck at Twitter.


End file.
